


Mahou Shojo

by Tabbyluna



Series: Skylanders Pride Prompts 2019 [2]
Category: Skylanders - Fandom
Genre: Cheese, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Exchange students, F/F, Fluff, Interspecies Relationship(s), Lesbians, Magical Girls, Skylanders Pride prompts 2019, Teenagers, bi/pan character, magical girl au, wlw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 12:32:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19357084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tabbyluna/pseuds/Tabbyluna
Summary: Magical Girl AU. Torch is new to this job, and she needs someone to help her learn the ropes. Hopefully, someone would show her a thing or two about being a magical girl...





	Mahou Shojo

**Author's Note:**

> Woo! Day 2! This one is over 11k words, and it took me six days of minimal sleep to make. I hope you guys enjoy it, nevertheless, and as usual, please remember to comment and share your thoughts on this. I love to hear feedback, whether praise or constructive criticism.

Torch had only been on the job a few days, and so she could not help but wonder why she should be doing this. A magical girl with minimal training going after a fairly notorious foe. That could only go so well. She wondered why Spry could not just ask one of the more experienced magical girls to help him out. Then again, that strange dragon-thing had hardly been of much help lately.

Even though Spry came into her life, and was the one who made her a magical girl, he was not much help in terms of anything. Whether it was clarifying doubts, explaining her powers, or even telling her how to train. “The most important part of becoming a magical girl is figuring yourself out! I can’t help you much with that. It’s something you have to go through yourself.”

‘Bullcrap,’ she thought. ‘I bet he knows more than he’s letting on.’ Her fiery hair flickered and her orange skin turned slightly redder. A sure sign that she was peeved.

She held her flamethrower close to her chest and leaned against the low stone wall. Peering over it, she saw her target. A strange man in green, standing right in the middle of the pasture. Or at least it was supposed to be a pasture, meant to keep the town’s sheep. But the shepherds and their sheep were all tied up to the nearby trees. They were scattered about, bound with ropes, looking on helplessly as they saw their once beautiful field get filled with chompy pods. And at the center of it all was the madman in green.

He had a long white beard, a strange looking staff, and at his feet there were dozens and dozens of chompies dancing around. The strong stench of chompy pod slime filled the air, causing Torch to gag. And the sharp cackle he possessed confirmed to her that the man was a thing of evil. A servant of the Golden Queen.

He needed to be taken down.

She recalled the first time she fired her flamethrower. The way her fingers filled up with energy. How the blast of fire afterwards burnt her enemy down to a crisp. To fire it, she thought about what she would do after it was over. Safe at home, eating dinner with her grandfather. The warmth of that feeling in her memories managed to fuel her, and that very same feeling took down The Gulper with ease.

This time, she figured the fire needed would not need to be as large. She needed to find a feeling that was less strong than the love she had for her grandpa. Scouring her memories, she considered her options.

She led a simple life. She woke up, fed the dragons, then went to school. She spent lunch with Ember, went home, and before becoming a magical girl, she would help tend the dragon pens. Since becoming a magical girl, she told her grandpa about it, and he took on the extra labour. She felt guilty about making her grandpa work extra hard, but what could she do? This life was not something she could easily quit. And the area needed a protector. If she was the best candidate, she should by right step up to the challenge. After the afternoon’s activities, she would always have a quick lava bath. Then dinner with Grandpa, and then it was time to sleep.

Not a very wide range of emotions to draw from. She searched for something with the right intensity.

Maybe this would come close: library hour at school. At the end of the week, for final period, her class would always be allowed to read a little while at the library. She recalled wanting to read a certain book, but never getting the opportunity. Then one day she found it. No one was reading it. It was free for her to take!

There, that was the emotional intensity needed. She allowed the feeling to fill her. Imagining her excitement at finding the book. She inhaled, placed her hand on the trigger, and exhaled.

A lone spark hit the Chompy in front of her. Though the spark shocked it, it barely did any damage to it.

Damn it. She undershot.

The Chompy let out a tiny, high-pitched yelp, and started running around in circles. That cry caught the attention of the smelly green wizard. “Hmm? What is it, little one?” He turned around, distracted from his conversation with… his hand puppet? Torch raised an eyebrow, distracted by the wizard’s strangeness.

So distracted, she forgot to duck for cover. “Ah! Who are you?” The wizard called, pointing his long wooden staff at her.

His sudden movement almost caught her off guard, but she regained her composure quickly. She climbed up the low wall, and stood there. Feet apart, hands on her waist. Just like she practiced. “Uh-I am magical girl Torch! The magical girl of Fire! And by the power of the flame, I will-”

“Get her, chompies!”

“Hey!”

She was cut short. The moment the wizard said that, dozens upon dozens of chompies came crawling up the low wall. Torch tried to fight them off. But there were too many to be shaken off so easily. Their sharp teeth pierced into her arms and legs, making her scream. She struggled to get free, but the chompies were surprisingly strong. Torch felt herself getting tipped over the wall, then dragged through the field. On her stomach, she was pulled towards the strange wizard. Mud and grass flew into her face. She held her flamethrower tightly. Even if she was defeated, she would not drop her weapon. She looked up, attempting to look as dignified as she could. The chompy wizard only gave her a mocking smirk.

He lifted his hand puppet, and moved its lip flaps as he spoke. “Next time, you should probably quit the introductions and get on with the battle. It’ll give less time for your enemies to react.” he said in a ridiculous voice.

Torch gritted her teeth in anger. Her face grew warmer, and she balled her hands into fists. Fancy this being her first defeat. Not only did she have to lose in front of civilians. Civilians which she was supposed to defend from evil. But she had to lose to some stupid wizard who commanded garden pests. How embarrassing.

He gestured at his chompies, and pointed to a tree. “Tie her up!” Went the hand puppet. He walked up to the trees, and pulled up a piece of rope that laid on the ground, Torch grimaced. She could barely look up at the shepherd boys; they all looked at her with equal amounts of pity and disappointment. Still, she tried her best to fight her way out of it. Sadly, it did not work. The strange wizard pushed her into the tree, and began binding her up.

The wizard laughed as he tied Torch to the tree. Then he made his puppet laugh alongside him once he was finished. He stood there for a few seconds, cackling to himself. “Well, it appears that Golden Queen was right. The quality of magical girls has declined, haven’t they?”

“The same can be said about your lot, Chompy Mage. The Gulper _was_ easily taken down by a newbie, after all…”

In an instant, everyone turned towards the source of the sound. When they all did, Torch let out a small gasp. Standing on the low wall, in an electric blue full-body outfit, purple twin tails, a silver mask, and Spry hovering near her, was another magical girl. With one hand holding an hourglass, and the other holding a long gold-coloured rod, she looked both confident and powerful.

The Chompy Mage let out a low growl, and then pointed his staff at the newcomer. “Chompies, I command you to attack her!” His mooks obeyed, toddling over to her as fast as they could,Sharp teeth bared and ready to chomp.

But this girl was far more experienced than Torch. She immediately set to work. She started out by blasting an energy beam at the ground beneath her and used the recoil to push herself into the air. She landed gracefully atop a chompy pod. Like a skilled gymnast doing a familiar flip. She then fired another energy beam, leaving a charred burn mark on the pod while sending her skyward again. What a daring approach, flaunting her acrobatic prowess as the chompies all chased after her.

Eventually, she landed on the last chompy pod. The girl looked down at the chompies, who were all coming near her. They were coming fast, with teeth sharp and numbers massive. Despite that, the girl appeared perfectly calm. She whispered something into Spry’s ear. The dragon nodded, then flew a little higher. Further away from the girl. When the coast was clear, the magical girl lifted her arms. She was almost oblivious to the steady mountain of chompies that was building before her eyes. Torch could only marvel at her cool head.

Just as the mountain of chompies were about to reach her, she slammed her hands down. And in an instant a vortex opened up from underneath the chompy mountain. Chompies scrambled about, trying to climb out of the wormhole which had opened up before then. But it was no use. Every single one of the vermin got sucked into the hole.

She landed softly on the grass, and aimed her rod at The Chompy Mage. The wizard instinctually raised his hands in the air when she did. Torch watched her closely. The way she so comfortable held her weapon up to him. How she could so easily intimidate someone much older than her. The fact that she wore a mask, and thus kept her face hidden, added to the mystery to the girl. Mystery, confidence, boldness. Torch silently took notes on how she should carry herself.

“Now, I want you to untie everyone here, and I want you to do it quickly and quietly. Unless you want to meet the same fate as your little pets.” Her voice was dangerously low. She sounded like she really meant it. She took a few steps closer to him. Chompy Mage took a few steps back.

“A-Alright! I’ll get on with it.”

“Right away madame!” The puppet joined in.

And soon the shepherds, the sheep, and Torch were all untied. The girl carried on pointing her rod at him all the way, even once he was finished. “Right then, I think it’s time you all leave here while I clear up the mess he’s made. She pointed to a greener field away from the chompy pods, and then shepherds all nodded in agreement. They carefully brought their sheep over, counting every one to make sure none get left behind.

Torch stood at the sidelines, away from the sheep and their shepherds. She was still looking at the girl. Observing the way that she walked. It was a strange walk she was doing. Almost like a dance. The way she circled around the chompy pods while always aiming her rod at The Chompy Mage. The Chompy Mage appeared just as confused as she was. His brows were furrowed, and his mouth was left slightly ajar.

After a while, she scampered over to Torch’s side, and waved The Chompy Mage goodbye. “Well, that should do the trick now. Hopefully you’ll go home and reconsider your life after this!” Then she grabbed Torch by the arm, and ran off with her.

Torch turned around to see what she did, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw it. Slowly, duplicates of the girl formed at the areas that she had walked on. Both on top of chompy pods and on the ground. Those girls all aimed their golden rods at The Chompy Mage, then let out energy beams. They all hit him one at a time. In his legs. In his stomach. In his face. And once The Chompy Mage had been properly beat up. The duplicates all sat down together at the same time. Then with one massive ‘Boom!’, they detonated, Leaving the pasture free of any chompy pods.

*****

Most Skylandians had gotten used to living after crisis and disasters. In a world as vast and expansive as theirs, it is rare for someone to not experience at least some form of danger in their lives. No matter how isolated the village, how charmed a life, how sheltered the people, there would inevitably be some sort of danger. Though some try to hide, the best course of action really is just to be prepared.

Torch’s village was aware of the dangers. Their authority figures all made sure to have regular drills, in the case of emergencies. That was also why they were so supportive of magical girls. They were the saviours of the village, most of the time. Especially against that wicked tyrant, Golden Queen.

The shepherds gathered around the two girls, offering some fresh wool and lamb chops to thank them. “It’s no big deal,” said the girl in the mask. “I’m really just doing my job.”

“Oh, don’t be so modest,” said Torch. She gratefully accepted a lamb chop from a shepherd. That would make for a good lunch the next day. “You were the one who rescued us. It’s totally a big deal.”

Torch could tell she was blushing profusely under the mask. She smiled at her. “Hey, anyways. I think we should introduce ourselves. I’m Torch.” She extended her hand.

“I know. You’re the new girl, aren’t you?” Said the masked girl, accepting her handshake.

“I could say the same to you. I’m new to being a magical girl, but you’re new to town, I think.” Torch grinned at the girl, then placed her flamethrower down. “Anyways, what’s your name?” She accepted the basket a shepherd boy gave her, and began transferring her yards of wool and lamb chops from her arm to her basket.

“Oh, yeah. Um, my name is… Diva.”

“Diva?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty new here. Well, I mean, I’ve been a magical girl for a while now. It’s just that I’m new in town. You know?” She rubbed the back of her neck shyly. “I heard about what you did with The Gulper. You’ve got a ton of potential, you know Torch?”

“Thanks. I’ve heard I’ve got a ton of potential from Spry. Although he wouldn’t give me any advice on how to better control my powers.” She folded her arms,

Diva chuckled. “Yeah, that’s Spry for you. The thing about being a magical girl, though, is that you have to figure out some things yourself.”

“Doesn’t Spry know what sort of powers he gives you?”

“Only as much as you know in the beginning. The rest of them, you have to develop and figure out yourself.” Diva picked up her yards of wool, and handed her lamb chops to Torch. “You can have them. I only really eat poultry for meat, anyways.”

Gratefully, Torch accepted them. “Thanks!”

And with that, Diva walked off. Her work there was done.

Once she left, Spry fluttered up to her and landed on her shoulder. “She seemed nice. I think you two will be seeing each other around more now.”

“Yeah, I guess so. I wonder if I’ll be meeting any other the other magical girls soon.” She ripped off a piece of lamb, then fed it to Spry.

Spry talked with his mouth full. “Oh, I’m sure you would eventually. It’s a pretty big town, though. So what I did in the beginning was that I chose a bunch of magical girls living in different areas to protect those sectors. You live in one of the last areas I needed to recruit in, because it had always been one of the safer places until now.”

Torch sighed, then slung her flamethrower over her free shoulder. “By the way, who’s this Diva girl? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone like her around.”

Spry shrugged her shoulders. “She chose to remain ambiguous. Something about wanting to separate her life as a magical girl from her civilian life. Sorry Torch, but I can’t tell you her identity.” He raised a pinky finger. “She made me pinky swear.”

Torch sighed. That was not much help. Diva was cool and she had hoped to learn a little more about her. Oh well, hopefully she would still see her around. They may even become good friends. “Well, I suppose I’ll need to head home soon. Grandpa’s probably gotten dinner ready now.”

“Yeah. Hey, by the way Torch, I’ll be away tomorrow recruiting other girls from other villages. So I won’t be able to see you tomorrow. Take care and rest well, okay?”

  
“Sure thing. Bye, Spry.”

*****

Grandpa was happy they got the lamb chops, and the next day he made them into sandwiches for her to take to school. “Keep it up with this magical girl thing Torch,” He joked, tousling her fiery hair. “If we keep getting free food, I wouldn’t have to work so hard on the dragons.”

“Alright Grandpa,” She laughed, then ran down the path to school. “Good luck on the party today!” She called out. Some kid was having a birthday party on the other side of town that day, and her Grandpa had been hired to help the kids ride on a dragon. It was tough work, especially at his age, but he enjoyed it. Plus it paid the bills, which was why Torch had not tried to tell him to relax in a long time. Her grandfather was a stubborn, proud, hot-headed man. If he could still work and support his one and only grandchild, he would.

Torch inherited his hot-headed nature, and one time when he was younger she tried to insist he take a day off. But Grandpa won the argument that day. And ever since, she learned that telling her Grandpa he was getting too old for strenuous labour was a line she should not cross.

It was Exchange Student Month at school. Every year, Torch’s school would have a bunch of random students from all over Skylands come to their school and they would study there for a month. In return, her school would also send representatives to the other schools. Supposedly, it was supposed to promote harmony and understanding between different species in Skylands. She guessed it worked, but then again, she did not know of any evidence that implied that it didn’t. It just felt like a way for schools to show off their best students to other schools, in her opinion. Since she was in no way a great student, she never got to go on a trip.

There were only a few students who caught her eye this year. There was Tessa, a pretty fox girl. She was quite cute. There was Whirlwind, a blue unicorn-dragon hybrid. Torch found her rather cool-looking. Then finally, there was a meek little lady who went by Déjà Vu. She wore a purple hood and long trousers, covering her hair, her legs and her arms. But if her face was any indication, it was for a good reason. Her face was heavily scarred. Deep crimson burn marks covered her forehead, streaked down her cheeks, and lined her chin. And though Torch knew it was rude to stare, she could not help but do it. She wondered what the story behind those scars was.

She paid little attention to the boys. A side effect of being a lesbian, she supposed.

After the quick assembly, everyone was assigned to their classes. (Torch’s class got Whirlwind and Déjà vu, but not Tessa. Pity.) Then it was back to the regular school schedule. Lessons, lessons, lessons galore!

Torch tried her best to pay attention to her classes. But as usual, she found them all boring. Maths was a snoozefest, Language Arts was too easy, and she spent Music tunelessly tooting a plastic recorder.

The class that stood out the most that day was science, when they were assigned a group project with the exchange students. Ember got paired up with Whirlwind. When it was her turn to be partnered up, her teacher dipped a scrawny, manicured hand into the bucket, and pulled out a slip of paper. “Torch, you get partnered up with Déjà Vu.”

“Now, everyone, this project will not be graded. Rather, this is just a way for you to get to know each other better. Ask questions about science together. Tell each other what you all learn in your respective science classes. And most of all, have fun together. At the end of the week, you all shall present your project to the class in within five minutes. Happy exploring, and class dismissed.”

Now it was time for lunch. Torch wanted to sit with Ember, but she saw her already happily chatting it up with Whirlwind. She instantly thought of her own partner, and sighed. She supposed the right thing to do would be to have lunch with her today. It would probably be for the best, anyways. After all, they needed to discuss the science project together. Quickly, she grabbed her lunch bag, and scouted out for a girl in a dark blue hoodie.

Torch found her sitting alone in the cafeteria. She was picking at her lunch with a fork, with her head down and her legs crossed. In the large, crowded cafeteria, she looked really, really small. Torch already knew she was small. She was short and scrawny. A tiny girl. But situated in the back corner, silent in a sea of rowdy kids, she looked like a mouse hiding in a room full of partying giants.

Torch made her was across, pushing through the sea of kids, until she finally made it to her table. “Mind if I sit here?” She asked. Déjà Vu looked up, slightly surprised at the sound.

“Oh, uh, not at all.” Torch climbed into the opposite bench, and took out her lamb sandwich.

“So, when do you guys come over here? I always want to know when the exchange students come, but I never had the chance to ask.” She took a big bite out of the side of her sandwich, and chewed while she listened to Déjà Vu’s answer.

“Well, I don’t think I can say for any other year, but this year we were all supposed to arrive at least a week before today. Then we were supposed to spend the free week self-studying. Yesterday was our only rest day.” Torch nodded, then swallowed her sandwich. Déjà Vu pierced a piece of chicken and some lettuce from her salad, and popped them into her mouth.

“Ah, alright. So, what do you want the project to be about? Science is my best subject, so I think I can handle pretty much anything that’s been taught in the curriculum.”

“Are you sure you want me to choose the topic? I really don’t mean to brag, but the type of science I’m taught at school is pretty advanced stuff.” She said that in such a gentle, unassuming way that Torch definitely believed she did not want to brag. She liked her already.

“Nah. Hit me with your best shot. Come on, tell me. What was your favourite topic to study at your school?” She brought her sandwich up and opened her mouth to take another bite.

“Time travel theory.”

The sandwich hovered right between her jaw and her front row of teeth, but Torch did not bite down. Her eyes subconsciously grew wide, and she took the sandwich out of her mouth to respond. “Yeah, that is advanced stuff.”

“We don’t have to do it if it’s too difficult. I’m open to anything else you have in mind.” She scraped up the chicken at the side of her lunchbox, and began taking nibbles out of them.

Torch bit down on her lamb sandwich, and chewed while she thought about it. Once she swallowed, she had an idea. “Well, I always found fire themed experiments pretty fun. Maybe we could try something like that?” Déjà Vu paused when she said that. “Uh, I mean only if you want to, you know? We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”

“Ah, no, it’s fine. I’m alright with seeing fire.” She ate up the remaining chicken pieces.

“Anything you’re not okay with?” Asked Torch. She wondered if it was okay to ask her such a personal question. But then again, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Déjà Vu paused for a moment, then looked Torch in the eye. “Just make sure that nothing explodes, and I think I should be fine.”

“Got it. Oh, by the way, there’s something else that I need you to know.” Torch pulled out a flamethrower keychain from her pocket. Her weapon in its non-battle mode. “I’m a magical girl. Some afternoons I may not be available to work on the project. But hopefully, we can do most of the planning during lunch. I already have an idea I want to try out anyways, and it’s pretty simple.”

Déjà Vu nodded. “Got it.”

“So,” Torch extended a hand out to her. “Partners?”

Déjà Vu accepted her hand, and shook it. “Partners.”

*****

After school that day, Torch walked home with Ember. She passed by Ember’s Family’s dojo on the way home, so they tended to cross paths. It was part of the reason why they became such good friends. When they went home every day, they would stop to chat with each other.

“Whirlwind’s a magical girl too, you know? She told me that she may still do some patrols around here, so maybe you guys can meet up and become friends.” Said Ember, tugging at her knapsack.

“Mm, maybe. I gotta prepare some stuff for tomorrow though. Déjà Vu would be expecting me to bring the stuff tomorrow, because we’ll be working on it during lunch.” They headed into the plaza, where the dojo was situated.

“Right. Anyways, I’ll be going now! See you tomorrow!”

“Seeya!” They waved each other goodbye, and went off in opposite directions.

Torch walked over to the tiny stationery shop on the other side of the plaza. She took out her purse, and counted the coins. Hopefully that would be enough for her to buy some coloured paper. She supposed that plain paper would be enough for the experiment. But she liked coloured paper. It would add some flourish to their project, she thought. After all, Grandpa did always say that functionality was only one aspect of creating something. “You must also remember to make something worth looking at.”

In the shop, she scouted around for the paper. Once she found it, she counted her coins, and to her delight she found out she had just enough for a small stack. She picked up some, and shoved her purse back into her pocket.

But just as she was about to make her way to the counter, a sharp scream of terror pierced through the air. Torch immediately looked up, and through the glass door, she saw what all the commotion was about.

The plaza was filled with at least a dozen living piñatas, all running about and causing havoc. The scream seemed to have come from a woman who had fainted. Next to her, a huge piñata held a leather purse in its mouth and swung it around, shaking out all her coins, candy, and cosmetics in the process. The other piñatas all ran amuck, terrorising children, the elderly and street vendors. As they ran about wildly, they started tipping over trash-cans and stealing money from food stands. Making a mess of their town’s little plaza.

Torch’s hand dove into her pocket and dug out her flamethrower keychain. When she tossed it up, she activated her transformation, and within a few seconds she found herself wielding a large flamethrower in her gloved hand and warpaint on her face. Ready for a battle.

She ran into the plaza and saw Ember and her family trying to fight some off. She was glad for the backup. Though no one in that family was a magical girl, any fighter in these types of situations were greatly needed and appreciated. The numbers of the piñatas were increasing at an alarming rate, so Torch got to work.

She needed a strong emotion to defeat all these little beasts. And luckily she found one fast.

She imagined walking home with Ember from school. The inside jokes and the discussions about crushes. They both liked girls, but Ember said she did not care what gender her future partner wished to identify with. And regardless of who she was, she loved her as a best friend. She allowed the thought of their friendship to fill her up and released that love in the form of burning fire through her flamethrower.

She burned as many piñatas as she could. The thin crepe paper quickly crumbled to ash, exposing the candy innards that also melted into goop. She defeated two, three, four at a time,yet the number of piñatas never diminished. It felt like for every one they took down, another two would come in to take their place. She gritted her teeth and tried to increase the heat intensity by focusing her emotions once more. It was not time to give up yet.

Suddenly a rainbow shot past her shoulder. Startled, Torch looked to see what was up. On the rooftop in shining gold armour was Whirlwind! And standing right next to her was Diva, looking like she was ready for a fight. Thank the Ancients!

“Hey, what took you guys so long?” Asked Torch. She then noticed the piñata tugging at her pant leg and kicked it away.

“It takes a while for news to travel around here. Sorry for not getting the memo quicker!” Whirlwind called out. She and Diva swiftly ran around all the various piñatas, shooting blasts of rainbows and energy on as many as they can hit as they ran. But despite their efforts, the waves of piñatas kept coming faster and faster. Unwilling to give up, the magical girls bombarded the infinite army with all their might.

As Torch's blaze swept the battlefield to create a fiery inferno, Whirlwind shot rainbows and summoned electrifying clouds, keeping the piñatas at bay. Diva shot the straying pinatas who escaped the two girls with her energy beams. While the girls were pushing back against the paper horde in an effort to contain it, Ember’s family stood their ground and slashed and burned the ones who were foolish enough to attack their dojo.

Their efforts were futile. Their strength weren't enough to even dent their numbers in the slightest. The pinatas brute-forced their way through Torch's wall of flames and stormed the plaza like a flash flood. Though some perished during the breakthrough, either through fire, electrocution or being blasted into oblivion, more and more pinatas merely stomped over them like a mindless zombie horde. Soon, the plaza was practically swarming with the candy-filled fiends.

“Where are these coming from anyways?” Ember tried to yell above the thunder. She slashed at two piñatas, then quickly moved on to the next group.

“I don’t know,” Whirlwind called out. “But I suspect it’s one of Golden Queen’s plans!” Another rainbow was blasted from her horn. It hit a piñata square in its face, and it exploded into a pile of candy.

Torch’s heart pounded hard against her chest. Due to her frequently doing manual labour as a child, she was used to the way her muscles would ache and how her breaths would grow deeper. But she was not used to the stress that came from stopping vandals and thieves. The villagers had evacuated themselves, thank goodness. But that meant they could not see what was going on in their plaza. She thought about how so many would be devastated if they failed. She wanted to win this fight for them

Yet, she knew she could not make her emotions more intense.

She looked down at her weapon. The stench of nitroglycerin and ash filled her nostrils, like how the searing heat from her flames enveloped her gloved hands. These same flames could burn almost a dozen piñatas at once. Being fueled by the intense emotions of love, stress, and fear, the damage they dealt was heavy. She took aim at the paper beasts before blasting them all with a stream of fire, incinerating the monsters quickly and effortlessly until not a single trace of them was left.

If her flames were any more intense, it would cause more harm than good.

She wanted to end the fight quickly, to think of the strongest emotion she had and burn all the pinatas in an instant. But she had to be careful of her surroundings. She was lucky her first battle with The Gulper happened away from town and in a huge plain, where she could use her fire to its full extent without causing any collateral.The only people who ever used it were university students playing sheepball in the summers. She could burn it all down and nothing there would be missed.

But this place was different. If she put in any more power, she may burn down a building, or even worse, her own allies.

That meant only one thing. As much as she hated to admit it, she needed Diva to stop this chaos.

She walked over to her, careful not to burn her instead of the piñatas. Once she reached her, she whispered a message. “I have a plan.” Just loud enough to be heard over the crackle of paper and the zap of energy beams.

Diva shot another energy beam, causing one of the piñatas to explode. “What is it?”

“Right, you know how yesterday you made a bunch of replicas of yourself and then blew them up? Can you do those right now?” Due to the sheer number of piñatas in the plaza, they were forced to stand back to back. It only made it easier for Torch to notice the way Diva twitched when she mentioned that technique.

“I- I’m sorry Torch. I don’t really want to use that power right now.”

“Why not?” She asked. “It might be our best shot at clearing out these guys.” She shifted the angle of her flamethrower, allowing the flames to engulf another group of piñatas.

“Well… uh… there’s way too many things around here! I don’t want to cause collateral damage if I can avoid it. Everything is too closely packed together here,” she said anxiously before abruptly freezing up. Torch nudged her gently with her elbow, and that snapped her out of her strange trance. She continued zapping energy beams at the piñatas with precision. More and more went down in a flash, yet even more came to take their place.

“Right then.” Torch nodded. Another change in angle. Another new batch of melted piñatas. She scoured her brains for a new plan. “How about that black hole thingy you did?”

“My black hole?” She shot an energy beam over a shoulder. A piñata that tried to sneak up on them crumbled into paper bits. “Well, I suppose that could be a decent plan. I can control the pull so that no one but the piñatas get sucked in. But…”

“What is it?”

“I’ll need to make a huge one in order to get all of them. Problem is, I’ve never made one that large before.” Another blast of energy. Another group of charred piñatas. Yet the hoards never grew any smaller. They were practically standing on their tip-toes at that point. The plaza was filled to the brim with those beasts. “I’m scared of what would happen to me.”

“Then let me help you! If you faint, I’ll catch you. If you stumble, I’ll hold you!” Torch yelled out. She pulled her flamethrower high and aimed at the closest piñatas. It was risky and dangerous, but she cleared up some space to move. Crunching above the fresh ash, she extended a hand to Diva. “Now quick, let’s get on the rooftops!”

When Diva gingerly touched her hand, Torch held it as tightly as she could and ran forward. She extended her right arm forward and proceeded to mow down rows upon rows of piñatas with wild flames. As they made their way to the nearest building, they stepped over the remains of the torched pinatas, some still burning from the flames Torch dished out. With one hand, Torch hoisted Diva up some rubbish bins. She climbed up those herself then turned around to blast the beasts hot on their tails, covering for Diva as she did so.

When they finally made it to the roof, Torch held Diva by the shoulder. They could see the entire plaza from up there. Now that they were separated from Whirlwind, they could see her struggling to push back the pinatas all on her own, especially without Torch's flames to assist her. Even Ember's family, though they were slicing and dicing the pinatas swiftly, they were beginning to show signs of fatigue.

“You can do it Diva,” she whispered in encouragement. Diva nodded slightly, then shifted herself to stand tall with feet apart.

Still holding her shoulder, Torch watched as Diva raised her arms again. And she exhaled a breath. When she did that, a low whooshing sound came from below. Torch shuffled carefully to the edge of the roof, and checked out what was happening.

It was working! The black hole started to form, slowly at first but soon it started growing out wider and faster. The dark disc swirled around, sucking in dozens of piñatas and a few stray leaves. Fortunately, Whirlwind, Ember and her family managed to stay put. The black hole grew even larger, swallowing the pinatas who were now jostling about and trying to escape. None of the troublemakers would escape the wrath of her powerful special ability.

Torch shifted her attention from the black hole itself to Diva. Though she wore a mask, the look in her large, milky-white eyes was one of complete and utter focus. Her stance was rigid. She looked immovable. The utter power that radiated off her, and the power that she was displaying below. All that made admiration and awe bubble up within Torch’s heart. Those feeling filled it up soon enough.

“Hey, most of them are gone now!” Whirlwind exclaimed from below. Torch stepped towards Diva, and gripped her arm tightly. She was surprised at how muscular it felt, considering Diva appeared so small and skinny.

The loud whooshing sound of a black hole faded away and Diva’s battle stance slackened. Her eyes grew hazy and her legs wobbled slightly as her body struggled to keep her balanced. But fortunately, before her knees gave in and she fell, Torch held her up by her arm and stopped her potential fall.

“Thanks,” She whispered. Her fingers barely gripping her golden weapon.

Torch smiled at her sweetly, and gently brought her down the roof. “No problem, Diva. Us magical girls gotta look out for each other, after all.”

They carefully climbed down the roof, and Torch found a clearing for Diva to lie down on. But just as she lowered her, and Ember’s mother went in to get her a pillow, a low whine could be heard from the nearby alleyway.

Torch waved a hand at Whirlwind and Ember, and the three girls followed the sound to investigate. Once they did, they found out who exactly was behind the scheme.

Seated with his stubby legs to his chest and with a tiny piñata in his arms was another larger piñata. He was much larger than any of the others that they had fought, and he was a much weirder shape too. A sort of mix between a bear and a rabbit. He was crying trails of candy corn while hugging the tiny piñata.

“Nooooo! Golden Queen is going to kill me…” He lamented to himself. “I even brought all my best piñata warriors too! Now what am I supposed to do?”

“Well, you can start by coming with us, Pain-Yatta. You’ll have the local law enforcement to deal with now,” said Whirlwind. Torch and Ember walked over to him, and held him tightly by his arms. The three girls dragged him out, and presented him to Ember’s parents.

“Dad, we need to call the cops. Right now.” Ember’s father gave her a thumbs up. Then he walked into the dojo to make that phone call. As he walked in, Ember’s mum walked out with a pillow and a tatami mat and handed the pillow to Diva.

As she rolled the tatami mat out, she caught sight of Pain-Yatta and put two and two together. “Is he the one that was causing all that havoc earlier?” She asked.

  
“He was indeed, ma’am,” answered Whirlwind. “This man is Pain-Yatta. I heard that he was an especially notorious agent of the Golden Queen. Most of the magical girls I heard of had only managed to temporarily chase him off.” She turned to him, a curious look on her face. “Why’d you decide to come here all of a sudden? Not enough money in the big cities?”

“I collected enough money and stirred up enough trouble for her. Figured it was time I did something for myself,” he sniffled. But he did not sound convincing at all. It was delivered much too quickly and he paused for quite a while before he answered. It was all rather fishy.

Torch spoke up. “There has been increasing villain activity around here lately. I wonder what Golden Queen wants to do here?” She said aloud, then kicked Pain-Yatta, her hands placed akimbo on her hips. “Tell me, what’s she up to? And give me the real reason why you’re here.”

Pain-Yatta snorted. “W-what makes you think I would tell you?”

Torch allowed her flamethrower to release a few sparks. At least this experience helped her connect to her weapon better. It intimidated Pain-Yatta enough for him to speak.

“F-fine! She just wants to take over your town! She says it’s a really nice place, and she wants to build her new castle on here! Now will you please let me go?”

“No can do,” said Ember’s dad. “The constables are on their way here. It’s prison for you now.”

Torch left Pain-Yatta to be dealt with by the adults, and walked over to Diva on the mat. She sat down beside her, crossing her legs. “Hey, how’re you doing?” She asked.

“A little better than earlier.” She wore a smile in her eyes, so Torch smiled back.

“That’s good to hear. You did great back there! I’ve never seen so many enemies get cleared up so quickly.” Truth be told, she had not seen many battles in her life. But it was still impressive to watch her in action.

Diva sat up, finally finding the strength to do so. “It was nothing really… I’ve seen magical girls clear up enemies much faster than me. Plus, it was you who suggested the plan to me.” She wrapped her hand around Torch’s. “You deserve some of the credit too.”

Torch felt her face flush a little when she said that. She grinned back in response. “Well, I’m sure we’ll have plenty of opportunities to show our skills and see what we can do.” Her smile faded into a serious frown. “Golden Queen’s planning on building a new castle on this island. She’ll probably send a ton more agents to try and destroy the town. I’m sure the constables would help, but we’re gonna have to patrol the district a lot more frequently from now on.”

Diva nodded.”Right then. I’ll be seeing you after school then.”

The dojo’s clock chimed loudly, the bell inside it chiming four times. “Shit, I gotta get home now. I’ll be seeing you tomorrow, alright? We’ll start over here and move out.” She slowly edged towards the stationery shop, waiting for Diva’s response.

Diva gave her a thumbs up. “Sure thing!” With that, Torch stopped tip-toeing towards the stationery shop, and instead ran inside it.

She quickly grabbed the coloured paper she wanted, then dug into her purse to find the money she needed. She tossed the coins onto the counter before running off. Time to get back home before curfew. She didn’t have a minute to spare!

*****

She talked all about the incident with Pain-Yatta with Déjà Vu. That day for lunch, she had an omelette, and Torch herself had some leftover baked beans. “It was almost impossible to defeat his piñatas. I still don’t know where he even kept all of them. But, thankfully, we had this other magical girl, Diva, with us. Without her skills, I don’t think we would have defeated him at all.” She told her story in-between mouthfuls of beans.

“That sounded like quite a busy afternoon,” Déjà Vu commented. She had sliced up her omelette into tiny, bite-sized pieces with her fork. Because of that, she was able to eat it up rather neatly.

“Oh, it was. But it ended alright. We found out that the Golden Queen wants to tear the whole town down, and build a new castle on the island. So after school today, I’m going to patrol the area with her and Whirlwind.” She smiled, and chewed and swallowed another spoonful of beans. “I don’t think it’ll be too bad though. Being a magical girl is fulfilling, plus they’re both pretty cute. Diva especially,” She half-joked.

When she said that, Déjà Vu looked up from her omelette, and faced Torch with a surprised stare. Her blank eyes grew wide, and some blush was faintly growing on her cheeks. Her mouth was open, but sound failed to come out. All except one sound. “Oh…”

  
“What’s the problem?” Asked Torch, her brow raising.

“Oh, well, nothing at all, really. It’s just, well… I didn’t know you liked girls.” She rubbed the back of her neck, growing softer as the sentence went on.

“Yeah, I do like girls. I’m a lesbian. It’s pretty accepted around here.” Torch scraped the bottom of the can, trying her best to dig the last few beans out.

Déjà Vu smiled. “Oh, well then, that’s great.” She leaned over the table, and quietly whispered in her ear. “I’m not really sure what exactly I am, but I have had crushes on girls in the past too.”

Torch nodded her head, an understanding look graced her face, and smiled. “Right then. Since you’re almost done with your food, I think we should work on the project now.”

“Yeah, let’s.” Déjà Vu ate her last piece up, and placed her lunchbox into her backpack. It made way for a candle, a block of foolscap paper, and a strange spiral cut from coloured paper and strung with a string to a stick.

“So, what I’m thinking of doing is that we show how energy conversion works. What we’ll be presenting to the class is how this...” She tapped the spiral thingy. “Spins faster when it’s near an open flame. We time the number of times it spins for say… thirty seconds without the flame. Then we light the candle, place it just above, then time the number of times it spins around for thirty seconds. Afterwards we can say stuff about how heat energy converts itself into kinetic, but I haven’t completely figured out the script yet. That’s what I need your help in.”

Déjà Vu nodded, and reached for the block of foolscap paper. “No problem. I’m pretty good at writing, but we can do this together if you want.”

Torch grinned, and stopped playing around with her homemade spiral. She placed it to one side, and folded her hands together. “Sure thing. Let’s see what we can do…”

They spent the rest of their lunch period together. Tossing jokes at each other. Taking turns writing adding and crossing out lines. Having fun until the bell signaled that the fun was over.

*****

The first patrol the three of them did together went moderately well. Torch guessed that any agents that Golden Queen sent out that day had been caught. The only one the magical girls saw was this piece of floating broccoli. And he was honestly pretty harmless.

“So, are you girls gonna let Broccoli Guy go or something? Because Broccoli Guy’s got waaay better things to do that answer your stupid questions.”

Torch did not like that one’s sass. “We wouldn’t do that. Not when my home is on the line. Now tell us: What other agents does Golden Queen have in store for us?” She wanted to place the flamethrower to his head, but a small voice reasoned inside her that it would probably do no good. She may accidentally activate her weapon and fry him. Or that act might only cause him to make up lies. Reluctantly, she controlled the desire to do so.

Broccoli Guy sighed, and shook his big green head. “I already told you girls, Broccoli Guy has no idea. The only reason Broccoli Guy even came here was to accompany Chill Bill. And now that Chill Bill’s been imprisoned, Broccoli Guy has no reason to stick around.”

“What do we have here, girls?” Asked a constable as he ran to them. Whirlwind had a cellphone, and she used it to call them over.

“Chill Bill’s accomplice, sir. He was left wandering the streets after you arrested him,” Diva said as she picked up Broccoli Guy and handed him over to the constable. It was a rather comedic sight. Diva was already very small. The fact that she was able to lift Broccoli Guy up so easily either meant he was unnaturally light, or she was surprisingly strong. Torch vouched for the latter.

“Right then,” he said, picking him up. “I guess I’d better be on my way now. In the meantime, I think it’s time you girls take a break. You have all been working hard lately, and there isn’t much crime happening today. It’s only fair you get to enjoy yourselves now.”

As he walked away, the girls could hear Broccoli Guy screaming something like “You haven’t seen the last of Broccoli Guy! Broccoli Guy will have his revenge!” And they could not help but laugh.

“Well, what do you girls want to do now? Should we get some ice cream?” Suggested Whirlwind.

“Actually, I was hoping to do something else…” Torch looked at the two girls, and took a deep breath. “Could you two help to train me some more?”

Diva walked up to her, and rested a hand on her shoulder. “Of course we can. Whirlwind, you up for the challenge?”

“Well, I may not be as powerful as you, Diva, but I’ll see what I can help with.” Whirlwind trotted up beside her, and smiled sweetly.

“Now, Torch, the first thing you need to remember about being a magical girl is that it is about control over your emotions,” she began. The group started to walk away from town towards an empty field. “The thing about your emotions is that they aren’t always right. Sometimes you feel unreasonably scared, or you have some hateful anger inside you, or you have a knee-jerk reaction you yourself don’t even like to get. These things are very real feelings, but they can be very damaging if you don’t learn how to control your emotions.”

They stood on an empty field now. At least thirty feet apart. “Now, Torch, I want you to think about the things that make you angriest. Try to think about that, and then when the flame forms, try to reign the flame back in.” Diva stepped away from the flamethrower, and Whirlwind followed suit.

Torch closed her eyes, held up her flamethrower, and visualised what made her the angriest. She hated people acting superior to others. No matter who they were, it simply was not right to be cruel. She hated the way people at the back of class would say rude comments about the teacher. Sure, she did not like school either, but they were really annoying. And come to think about it, she hated it whenever people at school would make mean comments about people. Especially people she considered her friends…

“Uh, Torch?” Whirlwind’s voice cut through her thoughts, and she opened her eyes. All around her, the grass was completely charred, and her flamethrower was still shooting out a wild column of fire.

“Oh…”

“Well, at least we know you have a lot of power in there. Now you have to work on controlling it.” Diva walked up to her, and helped her to position herself. When she held her hands, Torch could see right then and there how calloused they were. Mostly hidden behind long sleeves and fingerless gloves, she could spot tiny white scars peering out from underneath.

“Think of your emotions as something similar to a well. You have a bucket so that you can draw from the well at any time.” She held her hand tightly. Torch felt the firmness of her touch. “Now all you need to focus on is how to control it.”

Torch repositioned her flamethrower. This time, she kept her eyes wide open. Her flamethrower sparked and sputtered. But as she allowed her anger to fill her again, the flame grew larger and hotter. She tried to keep Diva’s advice in mind. The idea that she should draw on her emotions and take only what she needed. But too soon, too quickly, the flame grew into something wild. Uncontrollable. Torch’s fear overwhelmed her when the fire grew too large. Luckily, the fear extinguished her anger and the flames went out with a loud ‘pop’ sound.

“We can keep working on it,” said Whirlwind. “This type of thing does need a lot of practice.”

And so Torch practiced with the girls. She practiced and practiced, internalizing advice and burning her gloves. She worked hard all day. As hard as she worked when she was merely a stable hand helping her Grandpa. Controlling emotions was not an easy task. But she was determined to do it somehow!

When she reached home that day, she was utterly exhausted. She finished up her sausage and carrots, then immediately went up to bed.

*****

She spent the next few days like that. Spending lunch with Déjà Vu and talking about life together. She liked her quiet and unassuming nature. The way she was so open to letting people talk. Their project was coming up nicely, so Torch could only admire her booksmarts too.

Then after school, she would go on patrol with Whirlwind and Diva. Some days they caught villains, and some days they did not. On those days, the two girls helped Torch with her magical girl training. Because she spent so much time with the two girls, she started forming opinions about them. She was alright with Whirlwind. But she did not have much to say about that girl.

As for Diva, Torch found a lot to admire. She liked her patience, her wisdom, her nimble style of fighting. From an aesthetic standpoint, she was also pretty cute. Torch could watch the way she flipped and spin for hours. Such finesse! Half the time, she was carrying the battle all the way to the end. She was quite a sight to see when she moved. Even standing still, she was a common, but marvelous, beauty.

For that week, she slowly built up a steady friendship with the two of them. It was rather easy for her to converse with the two of them. When she reflected on her day in the bathtub one day, she identified a spark of a feeling. She recognised it well. It was the feeling of having a crush on someone. More specifically, two people. It was strange to think about, considering that they were as different as night and day. Maybe she did not have a type. Or maybe she had a few types.

Either way, she wondered if she would ever find it in her to ask either of them out.The problem though, was choosing which one to ask out first.

*****

The presentation went swimmingly. Her class was thoroughly entertained by the two of them, and when school ended that day she felt good. She ran over to the plaza after school, with a skip in her step and a smile on her face. If there were no enemies to fight that day, she would probably talk about the project a little more with Whirlwind. They would talk about it during training. She found her and Ember’s presentation about reflection versus refraction to be informative and interesting. What did Whirlwind have to say about her presentation?

When she finally arrived there, slightly tired from running, she was greeted with a sight that made her gasp in shock. She placed her hands over her mouth. Golden Queen’s agent had arrived, and he had managed to take down the constables.

She saw the villain standing on top of them, smirking and scanning the area. He was a turtle, with multiple bombs strapped to his shell and a silver helmet adorned on his head. In one hand, he held one of those circular black bombs. And his other hand was rubbing his chin. He eyed the area, a cunning look on his face, as if he was planning on where to throw his next bomb. Fortunately, it seemed like everyone else had evacuated themselves from the area, which meant she could fight him without fear of harming civilians.

She tossed her keychain and caught it swiftly after her transformation. Then she boldly ran into the plaza. “Hey! Ugly!” She called out to him. The tortoise slowly turned around, and when he saw her standing there, he scowled.

“Drats! It’s another one of you magical girls.”

“There’s actually three of us now.” A voice came from behind Torch. She recognised it as Whirlwind’s and soon she and Diva were standing by her sides, ready for battle.

“Well, nevermind. I’ve defeated girls like you before. I don’t think any magical girl can match me and my bombs!”

“We’ll see about that, Bomb Shell!” Yelled Whirlwind, and she blasted a Rainbow of Doom from her horn, kickstarting the battle.

Immediately, Torch and Whirlwind took off. Bomb Shell looked like he was winding up, about to throw a bomb at them. But before she could take off fully, Torch realised that Diva seemed frozen in place once more in her strange trance. “Diva, are you alright?” But there was no response.

Bomb Shell’s wind-up was gradually getting faster. No doubt, he was taking advantage of her mental state and using his time to build up momentum. Torch cringed at the thought of the upcoming explosion, and nudged Diva desperately. “Diva, come on! We gotta move!”

Still no response. As if Diva was frozen in her place. But frozen by what? By fear? This was unexpected from Diva. Torch had this idea in her that she was a top tier magical girl, unfazed by anything. “Diva! We need to move now!”

And Bomb Shell released his bomb.

As if a spell had been broken, Diva immediately pushed Torch away from her, then scrambled to her side to escape the bomb. They managed to run out just before Torch could be seriously injured. With Diva jumping on top of her, she prevented a lot of damage on her.

Torch pushed Diva off of her after the dust settled, and realised that she was unconscious. Not good. She gestured to Whirlwind that she would be taking her aside. Whirlwind nodded, then brought her focus back on Bomb Shell. Whirlwind started to summon her thunderous clouds and blasted rainbow beams at Bomb Shell, distracting him as Torch dragged Diva's body to a safer place. The whoosh of storm clouds forming and the boom of bombs exploding buzzed in her ears, even when she finally brought the girl into a quiet alley.

“Come on now Diva… stay with me…” She found an old sack of flour and elevated her feet with it. To the side of her mask, she realised the a corner of it had cracked off, revealing a surprisingly familiar scar. “Wait…” Could it be?

She gently removed the mask from her face. But the more she removed, the more familiar the face under it became. Until she removed the whole mask from her face, and gasped out of surprise.

“Déjà Vu?” She whispered loudly. As if on cue, Déjà Vu opened hey eyes, and looked up at her.

“T-Torch?” She sighed. Her eyes were glassy and her face was pale as if she could faint again anytime now. Torch gently tapped her cheek to keep her awake. And that was when her hands flew up to her face. She realised that the mask was gone.

“Uh-I…”

  
“So is there a reason why you want to keep you magical girl identity a secret?” She asked. She must have sounded a little abrasive, due to the way Déjà Vu visibly shrank. “I’m not mad. I just want to know.”

  
She bit her lip, and wrapped a hand around Torch’s. “I would rather not say it now…”

Torch nodded, and held her hand tighter. “Alright then.” The sound of thunder, followed by a lightning strike, cut through the air. And suddenly Torch remembered that she was supposed to be fighting. She instinctively turned around, ready to jump back into the action.

“Wait! I gotta fight too!” Déjà Vu cried out. She pushed herself up, arms trembling as she did so, perhaps out of fear. She was about to get back on her feet when Torch gently pushed her back down.

“Vu, you don’t have to. If you really are triggered by explosives, you can choose to sit this battle out. Let Whirlwind and I handle this now, okay?”

For a moment, the two girls had a silent staring contest. Torch looked at Déjà Vu’s eyes, and saw through the windows to her soul. She could tell that the girl was determined to fight. There was a fire in those eyes. Yet at the same time, it was so obvious that the girl was extremely scared. She rested her hand on her shoulder, and said, “We’ll be fine. Do you trust us?” To her.

Déjà Vu turned to face her again, then gave her a subtle nod. Unsure, but hopeful. Torch nodded back, got back on her feet, and quickly ran off. “Stay put okay? We’ll get this sorted out as soon as possible!”

From the corner of her eye, Torch could see Déjà Vu give her a thumbs up. But what was more, she could see her face without the mask on. The girl was obviously scared. Fear was etched into every corner of her face. Yet, at the same time, there was a tiny spark of trust in her eyes. Eyes practically begging that she would come back safe.

Torch ran faster towards the plaza, energised from seeing that face. She started formulating a plan to use. A way to potentially defeat their new enemy. By the time she got there, she was more than ready.

“Whirlwind!” She called out. “Fly above this guy and circle around him! I’ll need you to attack from above!”

Whirlwind looked up after sending a barrage of rainbow beams at Bomb Shell and nodded back to Torch. She immediately took to the skies. Using the storm clouds as shields, she ducked and dodged the bombs thrown up at her. Whenever the coast was clear enough, she would shoot down a rainbow. Thanks to her good aim, she would always hit Bomb Shell square on his face. That left the turtle relatively distracted.

Bomb Shell had thrown a bomb at Torch when she first showed up, but she dodged the slow projectile with relative ease. Afterwards, Bomb Shell became distracted with Whirlwind, to the point where he forgot that Torch was even there. Torch thanked her lucky stars that none of The Golden Queen’s agents were particularly bright. She positioned herself near the villain for a sure hit with her flamethrower, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes to think.

She still needed to think before she could use her powers. Her emotions had not reached a stage where she could easily draw them out and use them. Still, they were getting easier to control. And she even knew what sort of emotion was right for this job.

She took a deep, long breath and cleared her mind of all the surrounding emotions. Those were not the important ones. She bit her lip, and focused her mental energy on one of the strongest emotions she had. Her love.

She thought of her Grandpa at home. The way he would lovingly prepare meals for her and work hard for her. She thought of Ember. How they would often spend lunches together and talk to each other on the way home from school. She thought of Whirlwind. How despite their differences, she still managed to find some common ground with her. Finally, she thought of Déjà Vu. Her strength as a magical girl. Her vulnerability as a civilian. They way she looked at her when she left. A whizzing, tingling feeling filled her fingers and stayed there.

Torch opened her eyes out of surprise. This was an unfamiliar sensation. It felt like there was something dying to come out of her hands, but she needed to let it go.

Was this what controlling her powers felt like?

She watched Whirlwind soaring above her, shooting rainbows and dodging bombs gracefully as she did so. Though she knew she was tough and strong, she was beginning to look a little tired. She needed her to step in, and fast.

Torch focused on her target. She needed to aim directly at him. Nothing else should be caught up and made collateral. Neither Whirlwind nor the constables next to him. She narrowed her eyes, took her aim, and with a prayer for Lady Luck, she released her flames at the turtle.

It hit her target and only her target.

*****

They were victorious that day. Soon after they defeated Bomb Shell, some constables showed up. In turn, they called some medics over to inspect on Déjà Vu and the two unconscious ones, while they took Bomb Shell back to the station for questioning. As the medic worked on the cops, and Whirlwind brought back everybody else, Torch walked over to Déjà Vu to talk.

“Hey,” she said to her.

Déjà Vu was snapped out of her daydreams, and looked back at her. “Hey,” she answered. “Heard you finally found control over your powers.” She sounded tired, but happy when she talked.

“Yeah, I did.” They stood around in a semi-awkward silence for a bit.

“Listen, Torch…” Torch looked up and faced her again. “I-I was probably being a little unfair to you when I did not disclose my identity. I’m sorry for being a bother on the battlefield.”

“Hey, no problem,” said Torch, resting a hand on her shoulder. “It was pretty reckless of you to not tell us your triggers, but all that matters now is that you’re safe.”

Déjà Vu rubbed the back of her neck, and blushed. “If there’s a way for me to make it up to you, though, I’d be happy to do it.” She smiled.

Torch rubbed her chin, a growing smile on her face. Now this settled her date dilemma. “How about you and I go out for ice cream?”

  
“Ice cream?”

  
“Yeah, ice cream. And I mean just the two of us. No tagalongs or anyone.”

Déjà Vu raised an eyebrow at her. “Are you… are you asking me out on a date?” She asked.

“If that’s what you want to call it.” Torch smirked.

For whatever reason, it just made the two girls laugh at each other. They laughed and they laughed. Deep hearty ones from Torch, light bubbly ones from Déjà Vu. And eventually, they calmed down, and they both felt embarrassed and happy at the same time.

“So, what do you say?” Asked Torch.

Déjà Vu only smiled at her. “Meet me at the plaza tomorrow at ten. I’m sure we’ve got a lot to talk about.”

**Author's Note:**

> I listened to the Cardcaptor Sakura theme while writing this. I always like the idea of writing Magical Girl stuff for this week, especially since some of the most prominent Magical Girl series out there have wlw themes.


End file.
